Alarming revelations from a major inquiry into maternity services at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust have unveiled a disturbing culture impacting the care of expectant mothers. Former midwives confirm that instead of prioritizing maternal health, a poisonous environment fostered negligence and mistreatment.
Documents obtained by BBC Panorama reveal heart-wrenching accounts from the unit, where the acronym ‘FOH’—a crude directive encouraging pregnant women to leave—was scrawled next to the names of patients on a whiteboard. This staggering admission encapsulates the wretched environment within the maternity ward, where compassion often took a backseat to a toxic workplace culture.
One senior midwife's resignation letter, now part of the inquiry's findings, included shocking remarks attributed to colleagues that exemplified a culture of indifference. Recommendations for expectant mothers often included the dismissive advice, 'Don’t be too kind, she’ll come back,' indicating a grim attitude towards patients seeking care during vulnerable moments.
Led by prominent midwifery advocate Donna Ockenden, the inquiry scrutinizes the care provided to approximately 2,500 families between 2012 and 2025, assessing a tragic spate of stillbirths, neonatal deaths, and serious maternal injuries linked to the trust’s services. The findings, set to be released on June 24, promise to be damning in their assessment of a unit riddled with complacency and systemic oversight.
For the mothers who encountered care in this failing system, the stories are harrowing. One mother, Sarah Hawkins, reported her repeated pleas for assistance went ignored, culminating in the stillbirth of her daughter, Harriet, in 2016. Reacting to the revelations, she expressed dismay: 'That’s quite upsetting for me to hear. Who writes that in a caring profession?' Indeed, the inquiry's documented accounts evoke a system where the wellbeing of patients was overshadowed by negligence.
Beyond the dismissive culture, witnesses have described chronic understaffing that stretched the remaining resources to breaking point. A community midwife lamented, 'Management would say the levels of staffing were safe, but they definitely weren’t,' illustrating the discrepancy between official assertions and on-the-ground realities.
The current chief executive of Nottingham University Hospital, Anthony May, while not in position during the troubling decade under scrutiny, has publicly committed to addressing the trust's failures, stating, 'We need to take accountability as an organization.' His resolve will be critical as the inquiry's findings loom, possibly marking a watershed moment for maternity services in the NHS.
As Ockenden put it, 'Nottingham thought that there was a Nottingham way, that they were some kind of superior NHS trust compared to others.' The forthcoming report may serve as an urgent call to action, ensuring such systemic failures do not continue to put mothers and their newborns at risk.
For those affected, the ramifications will linger long after the conclusions are drawn, underscoring the urgent need for systemic reform in maternity care across the NHS.
Source: BBC News
Source: BBC News - Health
